AdrianP: <Honza> Great variation, I like 30 Nd1!!. But there's something wrong with the end of it, so far as I can see. Isn't there still a black Rook on g8...? Or is there some reason I'm missing why Black cannot play 33...Kxb8 e.g. Kxb8 34. Rh8 Qg1.

Pheh... 12. gxh5 seemed a little odd to me... 12. g5 would keep the position sealed, and with gxh5, white opens the position a little, and if black happens to break open the position, white's king would be in great trouble. On a plus for white, white holds a good spatial advantage on the kingside.

I would have liked to have seen more of this game, I believe black resigned too quickly.

21...Rdf8 doesn't seem to accomplish much, by trading off the kingside pieces, black is stuck with awkwardly trapped queenside pieces. Not only that, but white has the response of Qg4+ when the king must retreat. RxR, RxR, Rf1 either controls the f-file, or trades off the queenside pieces where white has the obvious advantage.

In response to Honza's variation, 30... Rxg7 would work fine. Remember: black still has that rook on the final rank!

AdrianP: <MatrixManNeo> Welcome to the site. Honza's variation, so far as I can see, contained an error at the end, but it is still sound. Black has time to nab the Rook on g8 and then go on to force the queening of the g-pawn. Therefore, 30...Rxg7 would have been losing. See my second post above.

Honza Cervenka: <AdrianP> Of course, you are right. Correct score of my line should have been 27...Rxg7 28.hxg7 Rg8 29.Rxh7 Qg1+ 30.Nd1 Qxd1+ 31.Ka2 Kb7 32.Rf8 Bxd2 33.Rxg8 Qxc2 34.Rb8+ and 35.g8=Q etc., but I forgot to write the 33rd move.

<MatrixManNe0> If 27...Rxg7 28.hxg7 Rg8 29.Rxh7 Qg1+ 30.Nd1 Rxg7, then simply 31.Rxg7 Qxg7 32.Bxb4 and white is up with material and should win the game. It's only a matter of technique to win such ending with 2 minor pieces and Rook against lone Queen which cannot defend successfully all weak Pawns.

OBIT: I have to say, I find 30. Qd7 very disappointing. It seems to me, to stay in the spirit of this game, White needs to leave his queen en prise as long as possible. For the ideal resolution, the queen should stay en prise until Black has no choice but to take it.

If Black wants to play along with White's aspirations to set some kind of record for the queen being en prise, he can play 30...Qd8 31. Rxg6 Rxg7 32. hxg7, transposing to the above line. Or, better yet, he can play 30...Nf4 31. Bxf4 exf4 32. R6xf4 Qd8 33. Rf7 Kc8 (33...Qc8 34. Qd4) 34. Rxa7. So, in this line the queen has been en prise for eleven moves, and now I think Black finally has to make the capture: 34...Rxg7 35. hxg7 Kb8 (or 35...Rg8 36. Ra8+ Kc7 37. Rxd8 Kxd8 38. Rf8+) 36. Raf7 Rg8 37. Rf8 and wins. Now THAT to me, would have been a satisfying finish. :)

K9Empress: "I have not yet disclosed such things as which of my games I am most fond of, but if you ask me to pick one out off the top of my head, the one I played with Janowski at Paris 1900 comes to mind." --Mieses, quoted in de Greiff's 'Mil y Una Partidas'

KEG: A fabulous game by Mieses that fully merited the brilliancy prize it received over--among other fine games at Paris 1900--Marshall's spectacular victory over Burn played in the same round of the tournament. Many of the commentators have missed the boat on the early play, wronging criticizing Janowski's strategy at the outset and mistakenly suggesting Janowski was already lost by about move 9 when in fact he was fine until his poor 17th and 19th moves and his blunder on move 22. Despite these errors, Janowski played well for most of the game, making Mieses' achievement all the more impressive. Some of the best commentary on this game appears on this site, in particular the fine analysis by Honza Cervenka.

1. e4 e5
2. Nc3

The Vienna Game, a favorite opening for Mieses.

2... Nf6

Much ink has been spilled over the respective merits of 2...Nf6 and 2...Nc6. Suffice it to say that both moves are fine if properly followed up and the choice is one of style. In either case, an intense tactical duel can be on the horizon.

3. Bc4 Bc5
4. d3 d6
5. f4?!

Many of the possible sharp lines in the Vienna Game involve the advance of White's f-pawn and attacks on the f-file. 5. Na4 (to get the two Bishops) or 5. Nf3 are safer alternatives, but "safety first" was not the motto of either of the contestants here.

5... Nc6
6. f5?!

This hyper-aggressive advance was praised by Teichmann in his commentary on this game, but the preparatory and less committal 6 Nf3 was the soundest move here

6... Na5

Harshly criticized by Marco and by Tartakower-DuMont, but it is neither "valueless" nor the road to a bad game for Black. Janowski's plan to trade Knight for Bishop (giving him his beloved two Bishops) was not unreasonable (and had been played by Tchigorin). Tartakower-DuMont's 6...Nd4 was probably better, but their line is flawed: 6...Nd4 7. Bg5 (weak, better for White would be 7...Nge2 or 7. Nf3) c6 8. a3 b5 (8...a5 or 8...h6 were better moves and better plans) 9. Ba2 Qb6 (giving away what remained of his advantage, which he could have maintained with 9...0-0 or 9...h6).

7. Qf3

"An energetic course, conforming to the idea of the preceding move, namely to lay stress on king side operations" (Tartakower-DuMont). While the text is fine and does indeed fit in with Mieses' planned king-side assault, it hardly leaves White better placed, and is no real improvement over 7...Bb3 which Tartakover-DuMont mock as "without backbone."

7... c6
8. g4?!

Mieses forges onward with his all-out attack. A positional player would try 8. a3

8... h6

Rosenthal in the Tournament Book correctly notes that 8...h5 would be worse for Black, but his analysis of the move is flawed. After 8...h5 9. g5! Black should play 9...Nd7 with approximately equal chances and not Rosenthal's suggested 9...Ng4 allows White to get the better game with 10. Nge2 (rather than Rosenthal's 10. Nh3 after which Black is much better with either 10...0-0 or 10...NxB).

While a fierce tactical struggle looms (and occurred!) it is hard to fathom why Teichmann despairs Black's chances here. Fritz 15 fives Black a small edge, and the opportunities for play by both sides is apparent. Indeed, for the next several moves both sides played excellent and creative (and super-aggressive) chess, as I will discuss in my next post on this game.

"Much stronger than 12. g5" (Schlechter). After 12. g5, Black gets good play with 12...Ng4 (and not 12...Nd7 as suggested by Tartakower-DuMont).

The text is definitely best and warrants the ! Rosenthal gave it in the Tournament Book.

Chances are now roughly equal.

12... Nxh5

Contrary to the commentary of Tartakower-DuMont, 12...Rxh5 was also fine for Black after Tartakower-DuMont's 13. Bg5 or after the better 13. Be3.

13. Nge2 Qb6

Teichmann and Marco condemned the text and claim 13...Qc7 was best, but both moves seem sufficient to maintain the balance. The following moves reveal that Black is just fine until Janowski's 17th move.

14. Ng3 Nf6
15. Bg5 Bb7
16. h5!

This excellent move threatens h6, and the position is dangerous for both sides. The position was now:

Janowski has a difficult position because of his 17th move, but he now hangs tough. Both the text and 18...gxh6 were god choices. Schlechter and Tartakower-DuMont condemn the latter choice, but after 19. Rxh6 f6 Black remains very much in the game.

19. 0-0-0

Mieses now can bring his Queen's-side Rook into the fray and throw everything into his King-side attack.

19... Rhg8

Janowski had to make a difficult decision here, and the text was not best.

If 19...g5 White would have strong play after 20. Nh5 (better than Schlechter's 20. f6).

Could Janowski have held this position? For the reasons I will cover in my next post, I claim the answer is Yes, and that Janowski was in the game until his poor 22nd move--and then only because of a remarkable combination by Mieses in which he left his Queen en prise for six moves!

Can Janowski take the Queen now? This time the answer is a bit more complex. Taking the Queen was probably best, but White still wins using what Honda Cervenka on this site has aptly called a "Really funny variation": 27...RxQ 28. hxR Rg8 29. RxN Qg1+ leaving:

Can Janowski take the Queen now? Obviously not: 29...RxQ 30. hxR and Black is finished.

The best chance for Janowski in the last diagrammed position was to concede his last move was rotten and play 29...Nh7. Instead, Janowski played:

29... Ng6?

And not, after leaving his Queen en prise for six consecutive moves, Mieses played:

30. Qd7

This is sufficient for victory, but even better was the sweet 30. Rg5!! (leaving the Queen to be captured for a record 7th move).

Of well, Mieses has thrilled us for quite a long while in this game, so we have no basis to grump is he seeks a prosaic ending to the game.

30... Rd8

"Best" would have been the line given by Rosenthal in the Tournament Book, though it would not have saved the day in the long run: 30...Qc7 31. QxQ+ KxQ 32. Rf7+ Kb6 (32...Kb8 was the only way to continue the game, but it too would have lost after 33. Rg7 or 33. R1f5) 33. Be3+ (better still would be 33. R1f6, but Black is dead in any case) c5 34. R1f6.

31. Qe6 Nf4

31...Nf8 would get demolished by 32. RxN as pointed out by Tartakower-DuMont).

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